


Spirits

by thedreamerswin



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, F/M, Post-Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Soul Bond, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-15
Updated: 2019-01-22
Packaged: 2019-09-18 14:19:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,896
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16996623
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thedreamerswin/pseuds/thedreamerswin
Summary: A world in which at 17 if two witches/wizards are soul-bonded a tattoo appears. Except Harry Potter's tattoo didn't show up. It wasn't till after the Battle of Hogwarts that Harry's mark appeared. How does this change what comes next for Harry and Ginny?





	1. Edge of Seventeen

**Author's Note:**

> I know technically Ginny's birthday is in August, but for the sake of the plot I moved it up to June. Sorry JK Rowling.

In the hours after the Battle of Hogwarts, Harry found himself preoccupied helping with the cleanup and wounded to notice the design appear on his wrist. A faint itch accompanied the new mark, as his skin had remained blank only a few hours prior. Three black stars with a deep red line now adorn the wrist of Harry Potter.

Unaware of anything but the faint itch, Harry goes searching for his best friend’s little sister. It’s been months since they’ve had the time to just be together, and he wants nothing more than to find her and just curl up. As Harry took a seat next to Ginny he finally allowed himself to recognize exhaustion for the first time since his first year at Hogwarts. Silently, Ginny places her head on Harry’s shoulder, pulling his right hand into her left. Running her thumb in small circles over his wrist, Ginny’s eye catches a mark she’s never seen before. “Harry did you injure-“ she begins but the words falter as she notices the stars which now adorn Harry Potter’s wrist.

Oblivious to the fact anything has appeared Harry immediately shifts his eyes to his wrist. “That wasn’t there this morning,” he admits. At first thought Harry assumes it has something to do with Voldemort. That his newfound safety and security once continued to remain temporary. 

“Blimey Harry you’ve got a soul-mark.” Ron’s voice cuts through the silence before Harry or Ginny can voice any concerns. “Why didn’t you tell us when you turned 17?” Ron asks.

Confusion washes over Harry. The morning of his seventeenth birthday Harry had checked every inch of his body for any mark. Now, almost a full year later one suddenly appeared. “I didn’t have one when I woke up this morning. This appeared sometime during or after the battle.” Harry admits finding himself tracing the mark with one hand. Ginny’s hand tensed during some part of this, but Harry refuses to let go. 

The group turns to look at Hermione for an answer. “Why do you all assume I’ll have some idea of what’s going on?” She asks with an eyeroll.

“Because historically speaking you’re the person most likely to know what’s happened.” Ron points out thinking of all the times over the past seven years Hermione had found out what they needed to do lightyears before the rest of them.

Pursing her lip, Hermione thinks for a moment trying to figure out what could have caused a mark such as this to pop up today and not on Harry’s birthday. “Oh!” She exclaims after a moment. “The marks show a soul-bond, but you haven’t had just one soul in you for quite some time. With Voldemort’s soul taking up space in your body, your soul-bond never had quite enough room. I would bet when he hit you with the killing curse the mark appeared.” Hermione explains.

“Bloody brilliant this one is.” Ron remarks aloud, bringing a small blush to Hermione’s cheeks. 

“So now you’re telling me that I’m bonded to someone else?” Harry asks, still paying attention to his proximity to Ginny. With the war over he’d wanted the chance to finally figure out where he stood with Ginny. His final thoughts as Voldemort had launched the killing curse had been of her, and their time together, now he had this tattoo bonding him to someone else. 

Nodding, Hermione continues to explain “as you know on a wizard’s seventeenth birthday if they’re bonded to another soul a tattoo will appear. Sometimes it takes years for the two sharing the bond to meet. It’s fairly rare to begin with and those who haven’t found their halves tend to stay quieter about it. In fact, sometimes the bonds occur to people years apart age wise.” 

As Hermione laid out all the details, Harry couldn’t help but to think about the owner of the hand wrapped in his. They had well over a month until Ginny’s birthday, and if on her birthday Ginny didn’t develop a matching mark, Harry didn’t know how he would handle that. After years of waiting for the moment the two of them could finally be together, everything seemed so close to falling apart. 

“If you’ll excuse me for a moment,” Ginny mumbles detangling herself from Harry and quickly getting up from where they sat. Merely a moment later Harry fumbles his way through some excuse before chasing after Ginny.

Perpetually slow to realize the emotions of others around him, Ron turns to Hermione in confusion. “What was that all about?” He asks gesturing to the space his best friend and sister had sat moments ago. 

Knowingly, Hermione looks over at him. “Harry has a soul-mark, but he’s currently in love with Ginny. Probably has been for the last three years or so. Ginny isn’t 17 yet so she doesn’t have a mark but no doubt she’s worried that in a month when she turns 17 she won’t get one.” As much as Hermione had grown to love Ron, she knew that when it came to things like this he would never fully understand. “Another reason I’m grateful you and I don’t have marks.” 

Meanwhile, Harry chases Ginny through the courtyard calling her name. “Gin, will you please stop for just one moment?” he asks finally placing himself in front of her. Instantly he notices the redness around her eyes, breaking his heart. 

“Harry please just let me go.” She pleads trying to keep it together. The last thing she wants to do is cry over Harry Potter again. 

Shaking his head, he stands firmly in front of her. “Gin please. Just give me a moment.” He begs. When she doesn’t make any more moves to step away he begins to speak. “I know this wasn’t what you were expecting to find out today, because I certainly wasn’t, but I love you. We’ve got a month until your birthday. Please don’t count me out before then okay?” Even if for some reason they didn’t have matching marks, Harry wanted her in his life. He couldn’t imagine doing any of the things he wanted to do without her. 

Wiping her eyes, Ginny nods. One month she could wait a month to figure out where she stood.


	2. Coming of Age

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I know, it's been a while since I updated this. I hope this makes up for it.

The month between the Battle of Hogwarts and Ginny’s seventeenth birthday passed much faster than she would have imagined. Between attending all of the funerals and ceremonies, the days passed quickly. With everything going on, Harry and Ginny genuinely had lacked the time to discuss what might happen if a mark never appeared on Ginny. In their quiet moments together the two just focused on being together, not how everything could change.

Waking up, Ginny pulled her sleeves further down on her arms. Last night before falling asleep she had pulled on a long-sleeved henley hoping that she wouldn’t wake up and immediately be confronted with the soul-mark that potentially existed. 

Trudging down the stairs of the Burrow, Ginny sees her family sitting down to breakfast. Instantly she makes eye-contact with Harry who smiles softly at her. For a moment she wishes that she’d glanced at her wrist, even though she asked Harry earlier in the week to look with her.

Despite her desire to focus elsewhere, Ginny’s mind remains focused on her wrist. In some ways, she wants nothing more than to pull her sleeve up and know if she and Harry shared a bond. Yet, parts of her wanted to never look at her wrist on the chance the bit of happiness she had slipped away. “Honestly Ron if you want more bacon you don’t need to take it from my plate,” Hermione admonishes batting his hand away from her plate, breaking Ginny out of her trance. Ron grumbles some sort of argument before reaching for the actual plate of bacon. 

Taking a seat amongst her siblings, Ginny begins to pile food on her plate. “Ginny dear, happy birthday,” Molly says coming around the table to wish her only daughter a happy birthday. 

“Thanks, Mum,” Ginny replies before taking a bite of the toast on her plate. Even with her Weasley appetite, her growing nerves made breakfast unappealing. Seated across from Harry she can’t use her free hand to seek out his and calm herself. 

Bustling around the kitchen Molly continues talking. “Now that you’re 17 have you checked if you have a soul-mark?” She asks, and Ginny feels her face grow hot at the sudden attention. Harry all but drops the toast he’d spent the last ten minutes pretending to eat to look up at Ginny. 

Shaking her head, Ginny stands up, leaving her breakfast uneaten. “No… I haven’t taken a look yet, if you’ll, um, excuse me.” She hastily says, pushing her chair in barely before she all but sprints up the stairs. Not even bothering to fumble through an excuse, Harry dashes up the stairs only moments after her. 

Watching in confusion, Molly looks to Ron and Hermione for answers. “What just happened?” Her eyes darting back and forth between the couple left at the table and the now empty chairs. 

“Harry didn’t have a soul-mark until last month after the battle last month, so Ginny’s all worried but if you ask me they’re both too blind to realize they’re probably so bloody in love with each other because they’re bonded,” Ron explains still shoveling food into his mouth. “‘Mione can you pass me the toast?” He grumbles still focused on the meal.

For as often as Hermione accused Ron of having an emotional range the size of a teaspoon, moments like this sometimes surprised her. Over the last year she’d seen more of them, but somehow, she still found herself caught off guard when Ron perfectly grasped the emotions of a situation. 

Upstairs, Harry follows Ginny into her room. Shutting the door behind him, Harry casts a quick muffiato so their conversation won’t be heard by prying ears. “So you haven’t looked yet?” He questions unable to keep the nervousness out of his voice. 

Shaking her head, Ginny pulls at the sleeve of her shirt. “I wanted to when I woke up, but it felt wrong to do it without you,” she answers still dreading the act of looking at her wrist. 

Gently, Harry takes Ginny’s hands into his own. “Whatever happens we’ll figure it out.” He promises. Although he wishes he could promise more, Harry knows that he can’t right now, especially on the chance she had a mark that didn’t match his. Letting out a breath, Ginny nods. Unable to put it off any longer, she carefully lifts her hands from Harry. 

All but shaking, Ginny pulls back her soft sleeve. A gasp falls from her lips as she takes notice of the tattoo now adorning her right wrist. Three black stars connected by a red line. “We match.” Ginny says, her voice thick with emotion. “We match.” She repeats looking up at Harry for the first time. 

Pushing his own sleeve up, Harry reveals his mark before placing his arm by Ginny’s, his smiling reaching his dark green eyes. Closing the distance, Harry presses a kiss to Ginny’s lips. “I love you,” he says. For the first time he’s able to tell Ginny he loves her without fear of Voldemort coming after her, or that they wouldn’t be soul-bonded. 

“I love you too,” Ginny smiles back.

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know what you thought!


End file.
